


Lost in the Path of Life

by Ginno4



Series: Path of Life [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: BAMF Nara Shikamaru, F/M, Hurt jiraiya, Time Travel, fem!naruto
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:33:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28892175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ginno4/pseuds/Ginno4
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto’s life has never been easy, and that might be the legacy she passes on to her children. Hence, her two oldest take it upon themselves to save their grandfather from disappearing when people start to forget the Pervy Sage survived Pain’s attack. none of the characters belong to me, etc.
Relationships: Akimichi Chouji & Nara Shikamaru & Uzumaki Naruto & Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chouji & Nara Shikamaru & Yamanaka Ino, Fem!Uzumaki Naruto/, Gaara & Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuuga Hinata & Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru/Temari
Series: Path of Life [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2118846
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> HI everyone! I look forward to posting my first story on this site and I'd love reviews to improve my writing. I am an English major so this is super important to me. I usually hate fem!naruto stories because they seem to create a different character completely or create this tragic backstory to justify the change, but I love the two characters I'm pairing together this time.

Objectively, they all knew she was a girl. They knew that like they knew that the sky was blue and Iwa sucked, but Shikamaru also knew people tended to overlook facts when their attention was drawn elsewhere. It was like spending the whole morning cloud watching only to be startled by the first drops of rain from a dark grey cloud at mid-afternoon.

Yeah, they knew she was a girl, but they also knew she stayed for shinobi specialization instead of attending kunochi classes. They grew up learning she fought dirty and didn’t pull back punches for any of boys or girls during spars. So, yes, they knew she was a girl, but it only took a bloody nose or spit wad to the ear to start looking at her like a boy. 

A dumb, distracted boy that took a punch to the gut and picked herself up to hit twice as hard. It wasn’t often that Shikamaru was pitted against Naruto, but he still remembered having to concede the fight because of the sheer lack of energy faced with her endless stamina.

Shikamaru thought wryly, it also helped that the teachers at the academy treated her different from other girls. They treated differently from everyone. If she was late, they shouted. If she was early, they were indifferent. If she was right, they belittled her answer. If- no, when she was wrong, they pointed out those types of knucklehead ninja were the first casualties of battle, and man was she wrong often. 

Overall, it seemed that Naruto would never amount to anything as a ninja if one listened to the adults. However, Shikamaru never listened to the adults. He saw the idiots surrounded Naruto to taunt her or trick her into getting herself killed before she even graduated the Academy. 

If he pointed out when she did something extra careless like listening to cowards who told her to go to an active battle ground it was only common decency. Choji didn’t have to laugh at him so much when she tackled hugged him the next day, troublesome girl.

Whatever they thought of her before she left for her training trip certainly no longer applied to the sixteen-year-old blond that dropped down near the entrance of the village. 

“Troublesome…” 

“Shikamaru! Temari! I didn’t know you were in the village?! Mmm, so are you guys on a date?”

“Get off of me, you troublesome blonde!” Shikamaru uselessly tried to pry himself out of the tackle hug that trapped the Suna kunochi and him.

“Huh- I was pretty sure you were a boy.”

“What? I didn’t look that bad during the Chunnin Exams, did I?”

“You were covered in Snake guts, baka Naruto.”

“Sakura!”

Naruto let go of the two ninjas to greet the incoming kunochi, Sakura and Ino running up to the two chunnin as they startled at how different she looked and acted.

Shikamaru took a moment to analyze the blonde Genin, seeing her normally baggy orange and blue jacket replaced by a short sleeve orange and black short jacket. As the kunochi around him decided to head to the Tower together to catch up, Shikamaru just followed their lead realizing he was surrounded by the most stubborn, troublesome kunochi of his year.

“What a drag…”

“What was that?!” Ino and Sakura shouted with tick marks on their foreheads at his mutter while Naruto just laughed and walked with her hands on her head looking up at the sky.

“Just ignore him, I do.”

“Troublesome woman.”

As Shikamaru looked over at Naruto’s unladylike snort he noticed her jacket ride up over a net shirt with a grey undershirt which made his fingers twitch, wanting to pull it down for the oblivious blonde. Shikamaru didn’t know how the blonde could be so oblivious after traveling with the Toad Sage for three years, since Shikamaru reflected he was not shy about his ogling of the female body. 

He didn’t raise attention to his observation of his friend, but instead felt vindicated as he thought of the reaction Kiba was going to have after seeing his partner in crime wear mini shorts and mid-thigh shinobi sandals. Afterall, the animalistic shinobi had been setting every kunochi near him on edge with his wiseass remarks to the girls of teams three, seven and ten.

On that train of thought, he smirked thinking of every shinobi from the Chunnin Exams doing a double take or attempting to flirt with the blonde mistaking her for a naïve stranger, with her long her hair in a high ponytail instead of the short, choppy locks they grew accustomed to. Temari looked at him weirdly for a moment but was distracted by Ino asking about Naruto’s early return to the village.

“Have you finished your training with master Jiraiya, Naruto?”

“Umm, nah. We have been getting sidetracked by short mission these last six months, and Pervy-Sage decided it would be easier to wait until winter to teach me the last stages of sealing at the Toads’ Mountain.”

“Oh! Is that why you’re at the village early? So you can pack for your next trip?”

“I wish, Ino. Between his frequent stops at Springs and people asking for our help at all the villages we’ve been to, I thought Pervy-Sage would want to stay in one place longer. Except, we’re actually here because sensei got called back to the village early.”

Sakura turned to her teammate, “I didn’t see master Jiraiya with you at the entrance. Has he already arrived?”

“Yeah, Pervy-Sage went ahead once we got to the gates. He told me to meet him at the Hokage Tower after he spoke with Granny Tsunade.”

“Do you know why he was summoned?”

Shikamaru turned to a curious Ino and looked at the upcoming Tower with a lazy expression. 

“Master Jiraiya was probably summoned to deal with interrogation of the ninja that tried to infiltrate the jounin louge last week.” Shikamaru put his hands in his pockets as both Temari and Naruto turned to Ino and Sakura for answers.

“I heard that the two shinobi captured were wearing Konoha headbands, but Daddy won’t tell me anything more about it.” 

Naruto looked toward the Tower contemplatively, but Temari was still perplexed at the news. “There was an infiltration attempt in Konoha. You Konoha shinobi don’t make sense, why do you allow shinobi from Suna to enter the village so soon after an attack?”

“What a drag… Look it didn’t seem like an attack from what Asuma-sensei told me since the two shinobi did not seem allied to any of the other shinobi villages. Although Kumo is still a possibility because of their previous attempts to steal offspring, both shinobi don’t appear to be an active threat.”

Naruto looked blankly at the lazy ninja causing Shikamaru to look her in the eye and bluntly explain, “Dad says they’re ages don’t matchup with the level of expertise required for a successful infiltration. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense for other nations to send two shinobi to fail so the main concern is a second attempt that might be hidden by standard protocols.” Shikamaru looked at the four kunoichi watching him with surprised expressions and finished before any of the kunochi could interrupt. “Despite the invasion during the Chunnin exams, Suna is considered an allied nation and Lady Tsunade doesn’t think the current Kazekage will attack Konoha.”

Naruto looked like she understood what Shikamaru meant, but it confused her even more. “Mou, Temari-san, who’s your Kazekage?”

Temari and the others looked surprised for a second before Shikamaru told Temari to explain it briefly before they reached the Tower. “My father, who was the previous Kazekage was killed in the last invasion by Orochimaru so the counsil took control of the village until they could elect a Kazekage. My brother Gaara was chosen three months ago, and he gave the order to mend relations with Konoha.”

“So I see… Gaara has become Kazekage, huh?

Naruto tightened her fists for a moment as Shikamaru and the others looked at the only Genin left in their class with sorrowful eyes.

“That’s awesome…” Naruto breathed deeply and looked up with a determined gaze. “I won’t be outdone. I will become Hokage, just you wait Gaara!”


	2. Invaders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi takes part of an important meeting.

“Summoning Jutsu!” Kakashi called forth his pack.

The ninken appeared ready for combat, but instead of an active battlefield their summoner brought then to an empty training ground. “Mah, mah. Kakashi, what did you summon us here for? We were in the middle of a nap.”

“Pakkun, I need you to track a smell for me.”

“Nah Boss, you’ll just ask me to search for a runt again.”

Kakashi sweat-dropped at his lazy ninken that relaxed on the field, Bull and Akino going as far as sleeping on a shaddy spot.

“Konoha was infiltrated a week ago, Pakkun. So far, we have not been able to identify who sent them, but they were professionally trained. Commander thinks they’re two Genin because of their ages, but they managed to get into the jounin barracks. It’s critical to find where they come from to prepare for a second attack.”

“Geez Kakashi, you never ask for small favors, you can count on us. The pack and I will divide to search for their origin after I identify it.”

Kakashi pulled two headbands with the Leaf symbol as Pakkun approached him. Kakashi, waiting for a direction or an incriminating scent, startled when Pakkun sneezed and rubbed at his nose with a whine. The rest of the pack snickered as Kakashi looked expectantly at Pakkun.

“They smell weird, Boss, the only smells I can identify are burnt blood and oil.”

“Hakate-san, the Hokage requests your presence at the Tower.”

“Hai.” As the Konoha chunnin shushinned away, Kakashi stood up from his crouch and turned back toward the ninken.

“Bull. Urushi, I want you to try to look past the smell and see if you can find any other hints of who sent them. The rest of the pack should prepare yourselves. I want you to be alert of any potential attacks from the two shinobi.”

“Hai, Boss.” “Got it.”

“Kakashi-“

“No time, Pakkun, the Hokage is already waiting.” Kakashi shushinned toward the Tower.

“Finally Kakashi, I thought I would have to send a team for you.”

Lady Tsunade turned toward the interrogation expert. “What information have you gathered so far? “

Yamaka Inochi stepped forward and gave his full report on the two foreign shinobi. “From the interrogation, the two shinobi were not deemed a threat to the village since they appear to be disoriented and lack full control of their properties. While they were unconscious, my team and I attempted a Dream Walk to find out they’re purpose in Konoha, but their memories seemed distorted as if they were placed under an extensive genjutsu.”

“Hmm. Is Uchiha Sasuke being considered the cause of the distortion?”

“It is unclear ma’am. As far as we can tell, the shinobi do not possess a known kekkei genkai that would attract the attention of Orochimaru, but we don’t know if the Uchiha is still associated with Orochimaru.”

“Hmm. Anything else of interest regarding them?”

Jounin Commander Nara approached the desk. “Lady Tsunade, until now there has been no second attack on the leaf’s strategic strong points, but I appointed eight sensor jounin to surveil T&I. There was chakra disturbance in sector 7 near the holding cells from an unknown source during a shift change at 3am last night.”

Tsunade conceiled her mouth with her joined hands obscuring any reaction to the troubling news. “…I see, has there been any other attempt at freeing the shinobi?”

“Hokage-sama.” Genma stepped up to the sitting Hokage.

“Yes, Genma, report.”

“I believe the second infiltration attempt was not meant to free the small invaders.” Genma met the Hokage’s piercing gaze as the surrounding shinobi minutely shifted in unrest. 

“After jounin Ebisu, left T&I to report the incident I moved our small invaders to another cell excusing their absence for an interrogation and placed them in a different cell.” The head of the interrogation was stilled completely and breathed deeply looking out of the corner of his eye to his comrade subtly controlling his shadow with a raised eyebrow at the new information. The mind walker nodded subtly at the unasked question of security. “Their previous cell was examined and four rigged exploding tags were found under their beds.”

Sarutobi Asuma with raised eyebrows muttered under his breath to the snickering Copy Ninja. “Small invaders.” 

“You believe there was an attempted assassination after their capture?”

“Hai, Hokage-sama.” The room’s tension increased exponentially as the Hokage released controlled Killer Intent at the news.

“N-“ Shizune knocked on the office as the Intent dissipated drastically.

“Lady Tsunade, Master Jiraiya has arrived at the gate with Naruto-san.”

“Perfect. Thank you Shizune.” Tsunade turned to her commanding officers and waived them off. “Inochi prepare our visitors for a meeting with Jiraiya. Everyone is dismissed, except you Hakate, stay nearby to receive your temporary team.”

“Hai Hokage-sama.” Several shunning were heard as the jounin disappeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short chapter. Next chapter will be posted Feb. 1, please review even if it just grammar.


	3. Past grief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jiraiya's meeting with Tsunade, and a glimpse at the future.

“Tsunade-hime.”

“Jiraiya, I’m glad you could come at such short notice. I hope I did not disrupt your teaching plans too badly.”

“No, it seems like I’ve reached a plateau regarding Naruto-chan’s ability to control the Kyuubi’s chakra.”

“Hmm, interesting. I hope you don’t mind I’ve reassigned her to Hakate’s teaqm for the duration of your stay, then?”

“Oh, are we distracting her from the village, then?” Jiraiya crossed his arms at the Hokage. “the animosity from the villagers running high this time of year or is it to keep them from Minato’s looks on her?”

The wood creaked as Tsunade slammed a fist on the desk. “Enough. I am well aware of your disdain for the treatment of the villagers, but we have bigger problems right now.”

Tsunade turned to the mountain face surrounding the village and spoke with a solemn, determined tone. “While the treatment on Naruto within the fire nation’s walls will always be an important concern for me, I cannot as Hokage always prioritize it. That is why you are her godfather, and I am not. Regardless of her situation, Konoha was infiltrated two weeks ago.”

The Toad Sage relaxed his imposing posture and met her gaze with a softer look. “Hime, I read your missive about the infiltrators. What do we know about them?”

“They are young, extremely so for an infiltration of this kind. After we had them in holding cells they were targeted by Konoha nin outside of my command.”

“Do you suspect interference by Danzo after they failed to fulfill a mission for Root?”

Tsunade tightened her grip on the edge of the desk. 

“That old geezer has undermined me for the last time! He has already requested approval from the council to appoint a supplemental ninja to Team 7 indefinitely, but this does it.”

Jiraiya grasped her bulging forearms. “Hime! Breathe or the KI will bring ANBU bursting in here!”

Tsunade started to chuckle as the surrounding KI lowered leaving behind an evil aura encircling her desk. “Fine, if he want to play for my seat I am always up for a bet.”

“Hime, you’re not exactly known for winning those.”

“Shut up, Jiraiya. I have a lucky charm for this bet, say… how do you feel about loaning me your student to supervise our uninvited guests for their stay here?”

“Tsunade, do you think its wise to give them access to her? You have avoided mentioning their motives or even their means of entering one of the most guarded spots in the village.” Jiraiya turned to his remaining teammate with a serious look. “You are not so naïve to trust they weren’t after the Kyuubi.”

Tsunade brushed his concern away as Jiraiya sweatdropped at her dismissal. “I’ll leave those details to you, Pervert. Afterall, you still want to interrogate the two twelve-year-old males who managed to get passed a whole squad of Jounin, don’t you?”

Jiraiya’s eyes widened as he stupidly repeated the Slug Princess’ words.

“H-Hai.” Jiraiya chocked out, still recovering from the shock as Tsunade nodded and handed him a file from the desk.

“This is everything we’ve gathered about the two shinobi. I would usually wait until they’re fully cleared by T&I, but there have been attempts on their lives during their confinement. I want to place them under the protection and surveillance of Sakumo’s brat as soon as possible.”

“Is he still living on the memorial stone when he’s off duty?”  
Tsunade sighed and looked out the window to the laying Jounin with his head buried in a neon novel. “He might as well be. The Uchiha’s departure has impacted him deeply, but the stubborn brat still refuses to meet with a medic nin.” The hokage forced herself to maintain a loose grip as she turned to her oldest friend. “From what his temporary teammates have reported, he has been closed off during and after missions reminiscent of his time in ANBU after Minato’s death.”

Jiraiya winced at the reminder of his pupil’s early demise and headed toward the door. “I think that’s my quo to head off, Lady Hokage.”

“Jiraiya.” Pausing at Tsunade’s call, Jiraiya focused his distant gaze at the plain grooves on the wooden entryway. “Don’t grieve too deeply over the past. Last Asuma reported, not even Kakashi has been left in peace as Gai has made it his life mission to help him. Konoha’s Green Beast has not let his rival wallow to deeply and he has cornered Hakate to a challenge every fifteen days or so to the other jounin’s horror.” 

Jiraiya snorted and waived her concern off. “ All in good hands then. I’ll come back later with my report before you send my favorite student off, eih Tsunade?”

“Hai.”

“Who do you think they’re bringing in?”

“…”

“Oh come on, I am bored. Who do you think it’ll be?”

“Shut up, Saku.”

The taller brunet turned to his brooding counterpart and kicked him lightly on the leg. Getting no reaction, he huffed and leaned his whole weight on his younger twin.

“I think it’s going to be Ibiki, or if we’re at the right time, it might even be Inojin’s grandpa. Hmm, what’s his name again?”

Sharply, the younger responded bittingly. “Inochi.”

“Thanks Raiya, I think we might get him ‘cause I am pretty sure the guard that escorted us here ages ago was Genma-san! Isn’t it crazy to see him in ANBU gear and not chewing senbon as he regales embarassing hokage stories?”

“…”

“Why are you so quiet anyway, Raiya?”

“I would be in a better mood if you had not knocked us out with your seal.”

“Oh sorry.” The taller brunet sheepishly rubbed at the back of his neck. “Bu-“

The locked door slided open, as both ninja tensed and placed their backs to wall expecting danger.  
“Hello, I am Jiraiya. You seem to know who I am by your hasty reactions.” Jiraiya entered the interrogation room and sat in the chair facing the two young males across from the table. “So I won’t bother to introduce myself, but from what my colleges have told me you have yet to do the same, so go ahead.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next post Feb. 15  
> I saw I had a review, thank you! I appreciate any interest on the story and I can tell you this much, its not Sai.  
> Please review! I am still in the process of world building this story so I can't saw who Naruto ended up with until I have a few more well developed characters. The next chapter will have two goals, the brats find out when they landed and Team 7 is assigned a mission.


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